At Binghamton University, a Halt To Pledging Amid Hazing Concerns

By PETER APPLEBOME; Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

Published: April 20, 2012

CORRECTION APPENDED

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Binghamton University, one of the Northeast's top public colleges, has halted all fraternity and sorority pledging this spring after what it called an ''alarmingly high number of serious hazing complaints.''

Administrators and students said there was no indication their hazing problem was worse than those at other colleges. But the move at Binghamton is emblematic of an increasingly tough stance on hazing and on other forms of student misbehavior on campuses nationwide.

The University of Connecticut is advising students this weekend to go home and avoid an often-out-of-control party called Spring Weekend, during which a student was killed off campus in 2010. The University of Colorado at Boulder has announced it will close the entire campus to all visitors on Friday to try to stop a longtime marijuana smoke-out held annually that day. The moves follow well-publicized hazing scandals at Boston University and Dartmouth College and student deaths at Cornell and Florida A&M Universities last year.

''The climate on campuses is such that there's just much less tolerance for aberrant behavior, particularly anything that can result in violence or injuries to others,'' said Kevin Kruger, president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

''Stopping pledging altogether is not so common, but there's a huge focus on managing liability and sending a very clear message to students and alumni that this kind of behavior will result in removal of the chapter.''

The concerns are not new, and educators cite three main reasons for the actions: concern for student safety, legal exposure and efforts to avoid embarrassment. Binghamton was widely faulted for its slow response to irregularities and criminal behavior surrounding its basketball team a few years ago.

But Binghamton officials said that their overriding concern was the health and safety of students and that the situation was clear: For the second year in a row, they received an increasing number of reports, mostly anonymous phone calls or e-mails from pledges, friends of pledges or parents, about hazing during the eight-week pledge period.

Lloyd Howe, the dean of students, said the university took action before it faced a serious episode.

''For us, any hazing is of concern, even if it seems to be at the low end of the range, because that can often escalate into a situation that becomes more dangerous,'' he said.

About 12 percent of Binghamton's 14,700 students are members of the 52 sanctioned professional and social fraternities. After it halted all pledging, the university said the organizations could petition to admit new members based on a review of their pledging activities.

At least 10 fraternities and sororities are under investigation, officials said. No criminal charges have been filed or disciplinary action taken against individual students.

Many fraternity and sorority members say there is no indication that any activity occurred that came close to putting students in danger, like beatings, which caused the death of a drum major in the Florida A&M band, or forced drinking. Instead, they said, the university has overreacted based on an open-ended definition of hazing.

''This has all been blown out of proportion based on anonymous reports,'' said Samantha Vulpis, a junior from Commack, N.Y., on Long Island, and president of Binghamton's Panhellenic Council. ''It's like hazing now is considered anything that isn't optional. The way it's being enforced is that anything you could ever think of is now considered hazing.''

New York is among 44 states with antihazing laws. Under New York's laws, a person can be found guilty of a misdemeanor by conducting initiation and affiliation activities that cause physical injury or create a substantial risk of injury.

Officials at Binghamton, which is part of the State University of New York system, have not disclosed specific complaints under investigation. But indications are that alleged episodes range from relatively minor cases of enforced physical activity or time-consuming rituals to physical violence resulting in cuts or welts.

''Hazing has become a part of fraternity life,'' said Zach Stein, a junior from Woodmere, N.Y., also on Long Island, who is president of the Interfraternity Council. ''That's not what it's supposed to be, but it's there, and something should be done about it. But, to be honest, I think it's not as out of control here as at some other schools.''

There are no fraternity or sorority houses on Binghamton's campus, and no off-campus houses are registered with the university. Instead, fraternity and sorority members often live together in off-campus houses. As a result of that distance from campus and the secrecy that is part of the pledging process, there are more rumors than facts about hazing.

One freshman, who declined to give his name, said all the students in his pledge class at a fraternity they sought to enter dropped out because of a two-hour regimen of push-ups and crunches. ''There wasn't any drinking, and I didn't think it was so bad, but one by one everyone dropped out,'' he said. ''You can't have a pledge class if there's no one left.'' He said he had not heard of any pledging rituals he considered dangerous.

Emily Fish, a senior from East Brunswick, N.J., said her sorority was one of two that lost its university sanction over the past year. The sorority, she said, was cited for ''sleep deprivation,'' which she said amounted to giving pledges multiple tasks. She said it might have been excessive but was not dangerous.

''What you end up with is like brainwashing,'' she said. ''It's a long process where you eventually think the sorority is everything, pledge class is everything, you'll do anything to please them. You eat, sleep and breathe our sorority, and I think it does become extreme to a certain point.'' She added: ''But we did it, and we still love the sorority. If it was so bad, we wouldn't have done it.''

She and others said the university's definition of hazing was now so broad that it was hindering compliance, because few students took the admonition seriously. The university's antihazing policy cites activities most likely to produce ''mental or physical discomfort, harm, stress, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule'' from activities that could include ''engaging in public stunts or buffoonery,'' inappropriate scavenger hunts or road trips or wearing clothes likely to subject the wearer to embarrassment or ridicule.

But administrators say the problem is not the policy but a lack of cooperation from people in the Greek system. When Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs, spoke to students last week, he predicted that investigating facts and sanctioning organizations would be difficult because ''nobody is going to tell us anything, and most people that say something to us are just going to lie through their teeth.''

Mr. Kruger, of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, said the focus on hazing and dangerous behavior on campuses nationwide did not mean the problems were disappearing. ''It's staggering to me it is still the problem it is,'' he said.

Even if there is disagreement on the approach at Binghamton, there is widespread agreement that something needed to be done. ''If even half of the rumors swirling around campus are half-true, then the jig needs to end,'' the campus newspaper, The Pipe Dream, wrote in an editorial. ''The university no longer has plausible deniability.''

PHOTOS: A sorority house in Binghamton, N.Y. In halting pledging this spring, Binghamton University is part of a movement against student misbehavior.; Some members of Greek organizations at Binghamton say that the college has overreacted and that its definition of hazing is too broad.(A17); ''This has all been blown out of proportion based on anonymous reports,'' said Samantha Vulpis, a campus Greek leader. ''It's like hazing now is considered anything that isn't optional.''; Lloyd Howe, the dean of students, said the university acted before it faced a serious episode. ''For us, any hazing is of concern, even if it seems to be at the low end of the range,'' he said. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY HEATHER AINSWORTH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(A18)

Correction: April 28, 2012, Saturday

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Because of an editing error, an article on April 20 about the halting of fraternity pledging at Binghamton University because of hazing complaints overstated what is known about the cause of death of a student at Cornell University in 2011. While the student, who was not named in the article, died after drinking at a fraternity kidnapping ritual, the cause of his death is the subject of current criminal and civil cases. It has not been determined that forced drinking indeed killed him.